The individual golf club heads in a set typically increase progressively in strike face surface area and weight as the clubs progress from the long irons to the short irons. Therefore, the club heads of the long irons have a smaller strike face surface area than the short irons and are typically more difficult for the average golfer to hit consistently well. For conventional club heads, this arises at least in part due to the smaller sweet spot of the corresponding smaller strike face.
To help the average golfer consistently hit the sweet spot of a club head, many golf clubs are available having heads with so-called cavity back designs with increased perimeter weighting. Another more recent trend has been to simply increase the overall size of the club heads, especially in the long irons. Each of these features will increase the size of the sweet spot and therefore make it more likely that a shot hit slightly off the center of gravity of the club head still makes contact with the sweet spot and flies farther and straighter as a result. One challenge the golf club designer faces is maintaining a desirable and effective overall weight of the golf club when maximizing the size of the club head. For example, if the club head of a three iron is increased in size and weight, the club may become difficult for the average golfer to properly swing.
Another problem area for the average golfer is that of excess vibration resulting from an off center impact with the golf ball. Various types of vibration dampening have been incorporated into club heads to absorb these impact vibrations. However, there is still a need for improvement in the areas of weight redistribution, vibration dampening in golf club heads, and especially improving the sound and feel upon striking the golf ball. A significant need is to provide a golf club head that is more tolerant to a golfer's inadvertent misplacement of the front hitting surface upon contact with the ball. In addition to inaccuracy of the shot, vibrations are indicative of a less than ideal transfer of energy from the club to the ball, and consequently represent inefficiency in the club head.
There remains a significant need, therefore, for a golf club head that is more accurate and more forgiving and which more efficiently dampens the transmission of shock vibrations from the golf club head to the shaft.